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the news continues, "erin burnett out front" starts now. up front next, will a last minute witness stop a d.a. from charging the former president, a famed doerch defense attorney on why robert kcostello's testimon could be a game changer. china and russia cozy up

after putin makes a surprise trip inside ukraine. why some are questioning whether the entire thing was staged. and the surviving son of double murderer alex murdaugh speaking out denying he had anything to do with the mysterious death of former classmate as this formerly cold case is busting open tonight. let's go out front. good evening, i'm erin burnett, out front tonight, if donald trump's very public prediction comes true, this would be the eve of his impending arrest, but cnn is learning tonight from sources that any arrest would not happen until next week, if trump should be indicted this week. over a hush money scheme involving a porn star when he first ran for president. now, this is a live look outside the new york city courthouse. we do know there was a last ditch attempt today by trump's legal team to keep the former president from being criminally charged. if that charge happens it would be an historic attempt. that person is robert costello, an attorney who's previously represented trump allies

including steve bannon and rudy giuliani. he also happens to be a former legal tiadviser to michael cohe who admitted po pto paying out $130,000 to stormy daniels. they appeared at a manhattan county courthouse where a grand jury is neinvestigating that scheme. he appeared at the request of trump's team. he was there for nearly three hours. cohen was available for a rebuttal but ended up not being needed according to his lawyer. the big question is did costello say anything today that would prevent trump from being charged in the scheme. he told the grand jury that trump once told him specifically that trump flat out did not know about the payment. >> that's what he said at the time, is it true? i don't know. >> did you tell the grand jury that? >> yes, i did, but i had to force that into an answer. >> now, cohen blasted costello for making quote, false statements about him during his

testimony. >> bob costello, if he was any more imaginary in the statements that are coming out of his mouth, he'd be a number one "new york times" best selling fiction author. >> four different courtrooms in america had activity involving trump today, right? it goes way beyond this indictment in new york. you have costello in cohen and new york. in manhattan a federal judge rejected a joint request by trump and e. jean carroll to hold a trial in carroll's defamation and civil suits against the former president. in washington, evan corcoran who special counsel jack smith wants as a key witness in the classified documents probe, he was back in a federal courthouse, and then there's fwa of course, and there trump's team filed a motion seeking to quash the final report of a special grand jury that investigated whether trump and allies interfered with the 2020 election. a source tells cnn that georgia prosecutors are considering racketeering and conspiracy charges in that investigation. and we begin, though, tonight,

with all of that going on with a probe that may come to a head first that could bring the first indictment. the nypd and law enforcement agencies are preparing for the possibility of a trump arrest in that hush money probe, police setting up barricades, after trump has called for protests on social media, and rallied his base to, quote, take our nation back. we begin with our senior justice correspondent evan perez. when you put all this together about hush money scheme, how these payments were classified, right, that's what this is about, where are we right now in terms of timing for these key decisions in the stormy daniels case? >> well, in the new york case, the new york district attorney case, it appears that the earliest we'll see donald trump have to come to court may not be until next week. now, we do know, erin, that the grand jury was meeting today, and we expect that they'll be back again later this week, so

an indictment could come and would be filed under seal, but the plan for law enforcement for him to be brought to new york for him to be brought in and fingerprinted and for the first appearance before a judge would not come until at least next week, and that's partly because of the careful choreography that is being orchestrated to try to keep the former president safe as he comes to new york because, obviously, you can see just from the preparations there that zhao just you just showed pictures of in new york, there's a lot of concern about some of the people that might be brought to new york who might act upon his call for protests, and of course that might bring people who are going to be counter protesting his appearance there in new york. so there's a lot of activity that the secret service, the new york police department are all very concerned about, and they want to make sure that they can bring the former president in safely and have him see his day in court. >> all right, so evan, obviously

this case has come and is likely to be the first indictment, surprising many, right, who had thought it might come from elsewhere, specifically many thought from fulton county. so what can you tell us about the developments there and the charges that are under consideration in fulton county, georgia, where of course the president and his team is now, you know filed to essentially take that grand jury report out of circulation? >> right, the new york district attorney certainly has catapulted his case ahead of what we all thought, which was that the case down in the special grand jury in georgia was going to perhaps be the first because we've been hearing from that district attorney that a decision would be imminent and that word imminent has been one that's been hanging over the former president. it's the case that he is most frankly worried about, and it's because of what don lemon and others were reporting today that the district attorney was considering racketeering conspiracy charges. this is along the lines of what

she has previously said was being considered, but again, the idea being that the former president and his effort to remain in office to try to find votes and try to find people in the -- officials there in the state of georgia to help him overturn the election, that that would be the case that they're trying to bring down there. now, according to the reporting we have, you know, they have at least three recordings of the former president urging georgia officials to do this. so that's part of what is now being looked at there. >> evan, thank you very much, and of course i should note for everybody, right, one of those recordings is something that no one knew about until about a week ago. totally new information in that case as well. thank you, evan, and i want to go now to the former assistant special watergate prosecutor who turned down a chance to represent donald trump in the mar-a-lago documents case. i appreciate your time, and welcome to the show. so i know you know robert costello, right? so i gave a quick headline of

him. he has represented people like steve bannon, rudy giuliani, some people will make judgments about that as they will. what can you tell us about him, what kind of a lawyer he is, his character? >> well, i think we have to be careful about equating a lawyer with his clients, whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. so robert costello for starters is a former assistant u.s. attorney in the southern district of new york where i'm also an alumni of that office. he has an excellent reputation. he did as a prosecutor, he does as a defense lawyer. he's honorable. he's a good lawyer, and i have no doubt, zero, that he would -- i don't want to say a double negative. he would not lie under oath. >> yeah, go ahead. >> so whatever he brings to the table, i don't think he has an agenda other than to tell the truth. >> this is significant because obviously a lot could be resting on him, and you know, he did come out after his three hours

in front of the fwrgrand jury a spoke to the press. he said he was frustrated with the experience. he said he had wanted to talk about 300 emails he had exchanged with michael cohen that he thought were very important. he said prosecutors cannodid not to talk about that. they were way more narrow. >> they'd ask me a limited question based on one of these six emails, and i would volunteer information i thought the grand jury needed to hear. >> john, what does this say to you? he would volunteer information the grlk and jury needed to hea but they would only ask about six emails where he had 300 he thought were important. >> where i start is no one's above the law, including donald trump. that has to be viewed in a spectrum of we don't want to be involved in selective prosecution. we don't want to be prosecuting donald trump for a matter we wouldn't prosecute someone else for. i don't know why the prosecutor doesn't just let it all come out before the dgrand jury and let them decide. a targeted investigation such as

mr. trump has the right to have the grand jury hear exculpatory evidence, let them be an independent body, weigh it all, and vote, and apply the law equally to him the way they would to anybody else. but let me say, erin, if you're going to compare the credibility of michael cohen and bob costello, that's not even worth a discussion. but you know, michael cohen is a defense lawyer's dream as a witness. i mean, a first year law student could destroy him on cross examination, and there's not a camera he doesn't love. he's on every tv show in the world, and i don't criticize the media or the public for wanting to hear it, but when i was a prosecutor, if i had a cooperator and they went on every tv show, i would pull their cooperation deal. >> so let me ask you the bottom line as you see it then, do you think there's any chance that alvin bragg does not indict

donald trump donald trump at this point? >> i do think there's a chance. if a prosecutor does a thorough investigation and decides not to prosecute, he has not failed in his obligation, and i think bob costello's testimony, if nothing else, should called mr. bragg to at least pause and think if this is the right case, if there is the facts and the law donald trump should be held accountable. i don't think this is the case and beyond a reasonable doubt that bob costello's testimony tips the scale in favor of not bringing this case. sf >> i appreciate your time, and the context. out front now, thanks very much to all of you. so karen, you worked in the manhattan d.a.'s office, you're very familiar with all of this. you were there when there was a decision to go ahead and not indict on other issues related to donald trump. how much do you think costello could impact the decision on whether or not to indict trump? >> i think at this point that

alvin bragg will likely ask the grand jury to decide, right? they've heard all the evidence, and they've also heard costello, right? he was there for almost three hours today, so to say that there was any selective questioning of him, he had almost three hours to say whatever it is that he wanted to say. the grand jury will have heard his testimony, and i think at this point alvin bragg will likely leave it up to the grand jury to decide if they believe that this case beyond a reasonable tout,doubt, that's ne standard in the grand jury. the standard in the grand jury is probable cause. >> if you want an indictment, you get one. >> pretty much. sometimes when the defense presents evidence whether it's the defendant testifying or other evidence that's exculpatory, and again, almost three hours. that's a long time to say whatever it is he had to say, and i think that that could influence a grand jury here. so we'll see, but i don't think that alvin bragg will not ask the grand jury to vote on this matter at this point. >> okay. and ryan, so michael cohen was

not asked to testify. he was there to be prepared for a rebuttal, costello testified, and then they said they did not need michael cohen, which we'll see if that's significant, but then cohen obviously went out and gave a television interview, and here's what he said. >> typical donald j. trump play out of the playbook, figure out how you're going to muddy the water as best as you possibly can, denigrate the person, disparage them, they did the same thing to cassidy hutchinson, they did the same thing to anyone and everyone that is for the truth. >> so he goes on to say the beauty is that i have facts. okay? now, obviously you heard what john sails said about costello about his reputation, but what does this come down to then for a grand jury? >> so i think in part it might come down to cohen testifying but then what is there to

corroborate what he has to say. prosecutors often have to include accomplices to the crime or some bad actors, especially when they're prosecuting, for example, organized crime, so you're going to have some prosecutors' witnesses like that who have flipped and are cooperating that aren't the most appealing characters and have done things like lie in the past and committed past crimes. you need to go through and corroborate everything. there is corroboration in the form of checks that are written by donald trump and audio recording with donald trump and michael cohen and other witnesses that can testify as well. part of this involved the national inquirer and they have even a public document with the federal prosecutors that explains their role in the scheme, and that it was done to influence the election. it's a lot of corroboration. it's a question of whether that can be put together in such a way it would convince the jury. >> that is the open question. you also have, of course, a d.a. here, right, it's an elected position. there's a lot at stake. you want re-election.

i would assume d.a.'s, let's assume they always want to do the right thing, but there's pressures. after everything the d.a. has done here, is there an off ramp if he wants one? he's going to go ahead and hand this to the grand jury. is there an off ramp if he wants one? >> he is in an incredibly difficult position. you know, he's a guy who -- and i know him, i voted for him. if you look at his background he has represented white collar -- he's been involved in white collar crimes or fraud investigations. he worked at the u.s. attorney's office, so he sort of understands how that works, and despite what may happen in new york or maybe even counterintuitive to being an elected official in new york, he's got to try to stay out of the papers and off of the tv because he wanted to be very kachl. on the other hand he campaigned as a criminal justice reformer. as such he has been pilloried from the right, particularly donald trump, lee zeldin ran on

taking him out of office if he won. he's in an incredibly difficult position. if there is no indictment hear, donald trump can say my protesters got out here, they pushed him back, and there are going to be questions about whether or not he was up to the task. on the other hand, if there is an indictment, donald trump is going to come out and say look at this democratic zealot going after us. he won't even say me, he'll say us. sfwr >> right. >> so it's a tough position for him to be in. i have to think he has enough experience and support to at least be -- i don't want to say hold back, but at least be a lot more careful than maybe one would think. he's the former president of the united states, a tough call. >> you said something in your answer that caught my attention. you said if he doesn't indict, people will say he wasn't up to the task. what task? what's the task? is the task to get donald trump at all costs? or is the task to do what's

right or just to execute the laws? i think and that's where republicans have legitimate questions about this prosecutor. is he thinking about his political constituency who would say what you just said, if you don't get him, you weren't up to the task, or is he actually thinking about the law? you know, as prosecutor he has downgraded 62% of felonies down to misdemeanors. in this case he's taken a 7-year-old paperwork misdemeanor and inflating it to a convoluted novel felony, and i think a lot of republicans are looking at him thinking is he more political than justice minded here because of where he represents in the voters that he has? >> since you asked, i would say for the last several years through two impeachment hearings, through a january 6th hearing, there's a constant push to hold him accountable, so the question is is this holding him accountable? if the facts say that we need to move on and take a look at something else, i get that, i eveni

think most voters would get that. is there ever going to come a point in time where donald trump is going to be held accountable for the things he's done? >> i would think the people in georgia and the special counsel in the d.a. have more legitimate things to care about. >> it will be interesting to know what they think about this and whether -- you know, if they also were taken aback as everyone was by the fact that this appears to be coming first. next, ron desantis breaking his silence about the potential looming, desantis taking a swipe, and then there was a counter swipe from trump which tripled down and escalated it. we shine light on the prosecutor who could become the first in history to charge a former president. and vladimir putin flaunting his friendship with china's leader after putin's charged with war crimes. what that power play could mean ahead. with unitedhealthcare my sister has a whole team to help her get the most out of her medicare plan. ♪wow, uh-huh♪ advantage: me! can't wait 'til i turn 65! take advantage with an aarp memedicare advantage plan...

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desantis versus trump, the looming threat of an indictment triggering the first real back and forth between the top two republican contenders. kristen holmes is in west palm beach as florida resident donald trump and florida governor ron desantis traded some nasty shots. this was very direct today, all sparked by the possible indictment in new york. >> reporter: that's right. this is the first time we actually heard florida governor ron desantis weigh in on this potential indictment. the thing to keep in mind here

is that this was not on force. we saw all weekend long trump allies and advisers essentially goading desantis into s responding. trump's super pac was sending out a tracker showing all the republicans rallies behind trump and signaling out desantis for not commenting at this time. when desantis got up there, he said that the d.a. was politicized and he vowed not to get involved if this somehow trickled down into florida where they both live. however, he didn't fully support trump and he seemed to take a jab at him when he said this. >> i don't know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair. i just -- i can't speak to that. i have no interest in getting involved in some type of manufactured circus by some soros d.a., okay? he's trying to do a political spectacle, he's trying to virtue

signal for his base. i've got real issues i've got to deal with here in the state of florida. >> reporter: so when you talk about real issues, that is actually the part that trump allies and advisers took issue with. they said that it shows that desantis doesn't understand what the base republicans feel that they actually care about this and they tore him apart on social media. but former president trump of course not one to be left out of a mud fight, he also spended to that first part about those payments. this is what he said, he said ron desanctimonious will probably find out all about accusations and fake stories sometimes in the future as he gets older, wiser, and better known, when he's unfairly and illegally attacked by a woman, even classmates that are, quote, underage. then he shared a photo that suggested that desantis had acted inappropriately with teenage girls while he was teaching history in georgia when he was in his 20s, something that he has shared on several occasions when he is slamming desantis, just showing you how

ugly this is going to get. we are still a year and a half out, and desantis hasn't even entered the race yet, and this is what we're seeing. >> all right, kristen, thank you very much. i mean, it was pretty amazing, i will say, that moment. i mean, i wouldn't know about how many times you get the hush money and porn star in there, and then defending. >> right. >> it was politically that would be walking the high beam. >> the virtue signaling. that's a great line. listen, that's -- i think that is one of the things that would scare donald trump, the fact that, number one, ron desantis as a governor has executive authority. he knows how to use the budget to get his political ends. this is the same guy who was influencing these hyper local school board elections. so it is clear that he understands how this thing works, and for him to be able to go up on tv every single time and say i don't know how hutch money works, i imagine that's going to be over and over and over again in commercials everywhere.

>> and amazing that that wasn't the part that upset trump. trump was upset by another part of the statement, and of course responded by taking it straight down to the fgutter. >> absolutely. i've been trying to sort out the politics of all of this today. the trump people are going crazy. they're more angry with desantis than they are with bragg. if you analyze this through the lens of judgment, donald trump and bragg, maybe they have the worst judgment hear. desantis is the one who actually via his answer exercised some good judgment. i mean, ron desantis did not cause donald trump to have sex with a porn star while his wife was at home pregnant. >> alleged. >> ron desantis is not causing alvin bragg to bring a dog of a case. desantis gave a reasonable answer today that i think would probably sound reasonable to 90% of americans. i thought he did a good job today, and i don't understand why the trump people believe that it's a political opponent's job to defend him from his own terrible judgment. desantis did not do any of the

things that got trump into this trouble in the first place. >> so i want to ask you, karen, when we talk about the timing here because thi think is important. this whole thing we keep talking about about, well, okay, the law is the law. if this is the right thing to do, if, then do you go ahead and teat, indict. this shouldn't be the first one, there should be others first. there's a reason for that you say. >> yeah, so when alvin bragg was elected d.a. about a year and a half ago, if you recall there were three trump matters handed to him pending in the d.a.'s office. the one was a case, the trump organization case that had been indicted and went to trial and they got a 17-count conviction on, and there were two pending investigations that cy vance hadn't indicted yet either, one involving the valuation of his assets, and one involving the stormy daniels hush money payments. alvin bragg came in and looked

at both of them and said i want more evidence. so to the people who say this is a political decision to bring this case, he had a case that he could have brought two months into his tenure where the two prosecutors resigned in a huff because they thought there was enough evidence. alvin bragg didn't. this case for the last year and a half he's been gathering more evidence in both cases. this particular case clearly he feels that he can corroborate michael cohen, and the statute of limitations is about to run in may, and so it's now or never with this case. >> right, which does give it some more perspective. because if he has until may, he's either waiting to let fulton county go first because he doesn't want to go first or what. it does give some important context to this. >> absolutely. so fulton county will probably go in may. if he waits, he will lose the case. he can't bring it because the statutes of limitation has run. he's not going to wait for the department of justice.

that's why he would have to bring this case now. i want to say to scott's commentcomment does this sound like a dog of case. michael cohen was prosecuted and served time for the hush money payment and the federal government said that he acted in coordination and at the direction of individual one who is not charged. the rule of law usually charges the principal in that kind of situation, but the subordinate was the one who served time. individual one was donald trump. >> we're going to see what happens with individual one in these next coming days. thank you so much. putin and xi together in moscow as the russian leader was heckled in mariupol. >> you'll hear why some ukrainians question whether that trip in the dead of night in front of a nice looking building was even real. plus, donald trump stepping up the attacks on a prosecutor who could be poised to become the first ever to indict him.

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tonight vladimir putin and xi jinping getting ready for another major meeting. they sat down together earlier for a remarkable four and a half hours, and now there's going to be more. xi is in moscow for days visiting with putin, portraying himself as a peace broker between russia and ukraine. of course he has not spoken to ukraine. yet, china is defending putin calling on the international criminal court to avoid politicization and double standards in the chinese words,

after of course the icc issued an arrest warrant for vladimir putin. this came after putin made a surprise trip to the russian occupied city of mariupol in southern ukraine where he was heckled by someone off camera. this is not true. it is all for show. that obviously wasn't expected, out front now the former u.s. ambassador to russia, john sullivan. so ambassador, i want to ask zhao ab you about that, first this visit, four and a half hours today, and they're meeting tomorrow. what is xi up to spending all this time with putin? >> well, xi's mission is a lot more complicated than vladimir putin's approach to this mission. putin is very dependent on xi. xi's got an audience other than putin and russia. xi is looking at europe, the eu, a huge market for china. it's very important for their economy. so he wants to be perceived as somebody who's interested in

trying to make peace, he wants to maintain credibility with the europeans, but he also wants to support putin and russia because they're an enemy of the united states and what frustrates us is good for xi. >> so in this, you know, hahead of this visit, and certainly putin wanted these visuals out there before xi arrived, he went to mariupol over the weekend, and while he was there he allegedly met with ukrainian residents, and then he got heckled with someone off camera. you see his security detail suddenly swivel their heads. let me just play the moment for everybody. [ speaking non-english ] >> and you see the security detail sort of next to him turn his head. so the person yels, ls, this ist true. it's all for show. which appeared to be reality sort of piercing a carefully staged visit, possibly, you know, an incredible moment. obviously unclear exactly what happened. but how do you think this sort

of a thing, this sort of a moment in this context of going to mariupol for the first time going into the war zone here for putin would impact putin, would sit with him? >> well, erin, one of the main purposes of the trip in visiting mariupol, mariupol is a city that reduced to rubble, drove the population out, he's going back driving around himself in a car at night trying to show that russia is rebuilding mariupol, life under russia in occupied ukraine is returning to normal, and what this heckler is saying is it's all a show. it's all fake. it's all staged. he's come in at night driving around at night, it's all show. because the world knows that russia reduced that city to rubble. >> right. so i mean, obviously you see the buildings behind him. if they put some sort of a temporary facade to make them look okay. as he's driving, he's turning the wheel quite dramatically for

what appears to be a straight road. i spoke earlier to the ukrainian ambassador to the united states, and i asked her about the visit, putin's visit, and here's what she said. >> as our intelligence says, we can never be completely sure where he was and whether it was him, especially during the nighttime. i mean, we all have seen actual pic pictures and satellite pictures from mariupol. the city is 90% destroyed. >> and anton garashenko who's an adviser to the minister of internal affairs in kyiv raised the question about whether it was putin who was in mariupol. there's a question whether this even happened in mariupol. and then there's a question if it did was it even him. he posted several images of putin in recent days showing they all looked a bit different than each other. what does it say to you that this speculation is out there this very respected quarters.

>> it's very common in russia, erin. this type of speculation, conspiracy theories, paranoia, it comes up all the time. people always speculate when there's, you know, there's some public moment with putin and maybe there's some controversy or some danger. was it his body double? saddam had body doubles. we believe vladimir putin has body doubles was these are the russians themselves speaking. on the other hand, i'm sure putin ultimately kind of enjoys this, right? sort of this man of mystery. is it really vladimir, is it his body double? i'm sure the kgb agent that lurks within him is kind of amused by this. >> all right, ambassador, thank you so much. i appreciate your time. >> thanks, erin. >> all right, ambassador sullivan. and next, just in, a new memo circulated within the nypd, all officers expected to be in uniform and ready to deploy tomorrow after donald trump urged his followers to protest

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just in, a new nypd internal memo is telling all new york officers to be in uniform and ready to deploy tomorrow. this memo is in response to

former president trump's social media post calling on followers to protest after he suggested that he could be indicted and arrested tomorrow. and at the head of this whole investigation is the manhattan district attorney alvin bragg. so who exactly is he? cnn's brynn gingras is out front. >> reporter: manhattan district attorney alvin bragg cowl uld ae he's recently had reasons to brag. he's the first black person to lead that office. he won a major tax fraud case brought against the trump organization last year. >> this was a case about lying and cheating. >> reporter: but now in just his second year of holding office, he may become the first prosecutor to indict a u.s. president. bragg always remained mum on the possibility of criminal charges against donald trump for his role in a hush money scheme. >> the last thing i want to do is run afoul of any rules or in any way negatively impact our

investigation. >> reporter: internally bragg isn't backing down as the pressure in the case builds. he recently told his staff in a memo he would, quote, not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office as trump repeatedly calls him out by name on social media while also denying any wronging it. >> i imagine alvin to be putting his head down and just looking very carefully and methodically at all the facts in the case. >> reporter: an indictment would be a culmination in a nearly five-year long investigation that began when bragg's predecessor cy vance held the office. it's been a rocky road getting to this point. >> i bring hard cases when they are ready. >> reporter: two senior prosecutors in his office resigned last year when bragg signaled he wouldn't pursue criminal charges against trump. >> i think the evidence was there. this is not a personal issue or a fight. it's a disagreement about prosecution policy. >> reporter: bragg ramped up the

trump investigation this year while continuing to weather major criticism about being soft on crime in new york city. last year an internal memo surfaced urging his team to not prosecute certain low level offenses. it came the same week the city buried two police officers killed on duty. >> i know you were tired of these laws, especially the ones from the new d.a. >> reporter: the former federal prosecutor is harlem raised, harvard educated, and while his current role thrusts him into the political spotlight, he maintains he is a lawyer at heart, once representing the family of eric garner and fighting for numerous social justice causes on his way to the d.a. seat. >> i've been advocating for changing to the law so that police can be held accountable. >> reporter: but no bigger battle than now as bragg may make history once again. >> and bryn, it's amazing watching that, the new nypd internal memo coming out, everybody be in uniform, show up

to be prepared, and there have been heightened concerns at bragg's office as well. so what are they doing to gear up for a possible indictment? and we still say possible because we don't know. >> listen, one of the things they're doing is local law enforcement, federal law enforcement, they're looking at the chatter online, and now as with our reporting, he may not even come to new york next week if an indictment actually happens, that chatter can only build. so there are security measures that are being already in place. we're seeing cameras being put up downtown, barricades, security briefings. this memo saying get officers in nypd uniforms. as far as bragg, there is a real concern about a threat against him, and anyone in his office. he, of course, has said we won't tolerate it. we're going to work with the nypd to prosecute should anything happen. again, as with this whole story, it's a wait and see approach. >> absolutely. brin, thank you very much. so much interest is going to continue. the surviving son of double murderer alex murdaugh speaking out today slamming rumors tieing

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-- he was involved into this thousand 15 death of stephen smith, a former cause made of his. smith was found dead in the middle of a road, about 15 miles from the home. authorities originally ruled his death a hidden run, but new information on that murdaugh double murder probes put that in doubt, and the smith family now wants stevens body to be exhumed for a new investigation. cnn's dianne gallagher is out front. >> what is your emergency? >> -- i see somebody laid out. >> it's been nearly eight years since the body of stephen smith was found in the middle of this country road, and manhattan county south carolina. the teams death gain national attention in june 2021, nearly six years after he was killed, when the state law enforcement said they're open an investigation into his death, based on information relating to the death of paul maggie

murdaugh. >> i like murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife and son, earlier this month. >> the rest of your natural life. >> and investigators never revealed what information they glean from the murdaugh murders investigation, there resulted in his case been opened. -- spearheaded by smith's mother, sandy, and two attorneys. the first goal? examine smith's body. >> we think we have good cars to show why, a set of eyes on this would be beneficial. it has to start with a fresh new look at the body. initial report says the nursing student died on july 18th from blunt force head trauma, originally said to be the result of a hit and run. but the acid investigation team reports, quote, no debris -- smith's mother says he married her son may have been targeted

because he was gay. according to police files an interviews with his death, the murdaugh name kept coming up. but no suspect has ever been named, and authorities have never connected members of the murdaugh math family to his death. still, innuendo persisted, and they spawned documentaries, and rapid social media following. often with buster murdoch, former classmate of mr. smith at the center the speculation. he broke his hands with a statement provided to cnn this morning. , saying in part, i've tried my best to ignore the vicious rumors involving his try to get, if they continue to be published in the media, as i grieve over the brutal murders of my mother and brother. these baseless -- ionic of ugly deny any moment in the death, my heart goes out to the smith family. smith attorneys caught in the public, this is not about the murdochs. >> this is not alex murdaugh two point oh, this is steven

smith two point oh. it's all about stephen. >> at the heart of this, it's just a mother who wanted to find out what happened to her son, and who did it to him. she started a gofundme, she's raise more than $75,000 already, that she says she will use to pay to zoom her son's body, if a judge signs off on a petition allowing it. we did ask her about the death investigation and he said that they've made progress, and stephen smith's death investigation, but would only say that it remains active and ongoing. >> all right, dan thank you very much, thanks to all of you for being with us, cnn tonight with alison kherrata is next.

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closed captioning is brought to you by glides tech flex. >> why just walk, when you can glide? -- plus they have sketchers premium good evening everyone, i'm alison camerota, welcome to cnn tonight. it is former president trump about